WINTERVILLE – The curtains closed on a solid season for the Lady Bears of Hertford County here Wednesday night.

HCHS suffered a 69-35 loss to South Central High School in the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state playoffs, ending its season at 16-9.

Camaryn Jones led the Lady Bears with an even dozen while Takia Williams, Brandi Burden and Briante Bond had six points each. Sherniece Futrell rounded out the scoring with five points.

South Central (24-4), meanwhile, had three players in double digits led by Danielle Butts with 19 points. Amber Clark added 17 and Janesha Ebron had 16.

The Lady Falcons got off to a quick start during the contest, scoring seven of the first nine points.

Clark hit the first bucket of the game, but was answered by Jones. Butts then had a three-point play and followed it up with a field goal to give South Central a 7-2 lead.

Futrell got her first hoop of the night for the Bears and that was followed by two free throws from Jones as HCHS closed the gap to 7-6.

The Lady Falcons, however, scored 11 of the next 13 points and claimed an 18-8 lead by the end of the first period.

They kept going in the second quarter when Butts sandwiched a pair of scores around an Ebron basket to give South Central a 24-8 lead.

Bond finally stopped the spurt with a three-point play that got the Bears within 24-11 with two minutes to play in the second period.

Kaylon Reid and Futrell exchanged hoops from that point, but South Central then scored the final four points of the quarter to take a 30-13 lead at the intermission.

Butts scored the first hoop of the quarter and then Ebron added a three-pointer as South Central surged ahead 35-13.

Hertford County was able to score five of the next eight points thanks to hoops by Futrell and Williams to close to within 38-18.

The Lady Falcons, however, scored the final 12 points of the third period and led 50-18 heading into the final quarter.

HCHS scored 17 points in the final period, but it wasn’t enough as South Central held on for the 69-35 victory.

The Lady Bears finish the season with 16 wins and having finished third in the Northeastern Coastal Conference.